28. Sadie by Courtney Summers

listened on Chirp, off and on for months before I went to sleep, backing up and relistening in case I missed or forgot something as I fell asleep

308 pgs.

2018
YA mystery (Older YA, pedophile....)
Finished 6/22/2025
Goodreads rating: 4.03
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary America

My comments: Such a sad story, depressing.  I was particularly unsettled by the epilogue, which tells what happened to the podcaster in the aftermath. Excellent storytelling from various points of view.

Goodreads synopsis: A missing girl on a journey of revenge. A Serial-like podcast following the clues she's left behind. And an ending you won't be able to stop talking about.

Sadie hasn't had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she's been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water.

But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie's entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister's killer to justice and hits the road following a few meager clues to find him.

When West McCray―a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America―overhears Sadie's story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie's journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it's too late.

Courtney Summers has written the breakout book of her career. Sadie is propulsive and harrowing and will keep you riveted until the last page.

16. A Steep Price by Robert Dugoni

#6 Tracy Crosswhite

listened on Audible

410 pgs.

2018
Adult Police Procedural
Finished 4/10/2025
Goodreads rating: 4.38
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Contemporary Seattle

My comments: Although depressing, this mystery was super interesting and kept me on my toes, looking forward to returning each time I had to stop reading.  There are two (interesting) cases going on at once, Tracy is pregnant, and we get much more acquainted with Fazio and his wife Vera, who has just discovered she has breast cancer. 

Goodreads synopsis:  Called in to consult after a young woman disappears, Tracy Crosswhite has the uneasy feeling that this is no ordinary missing-persons case. When the body turns up in an abandoned well, Tracy’s suspicions are confirmed. Estranged from her family, the victim had balked at an arranged marriage and had planned to attend graduate school. But someone cut her dreams short.

Solving the mystery behind the murder isn’t Tracy’s only challenge. The detective is keeping a secret of her she’s pregnant. And now her biggest fear seems to be coming true when a new detective arrives to replace her. Meanwhile, Tracy’s colleague Vic Fazzio is about to take a fall after his investigation into the murder of a local community activist turns violent and leaves an invaluable witness dead.

Two careers are on the line. And when more deadly secrets emerge, jobs might not be the only things at risk.

56. Harry's Trees by Jon Cohen

listened on Libby
432pgs.

2018
Adult CRF with a touch of magical realism
Finished 6/18/24
Goodreads rating: 4.19
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary northeastern PA, in the "Endless Woods"

My comments: Beautiful writing, clever story, wonderful characters, and a rich setting in the woods. This is definitely a favorite!

Goodreads synopsis:  The first thing you learn when you climb a tree is to hold on. Now it’s time for Harry to learn to let go…

Thirty-four-year-old Harry Crane, lifelong lover of trees, works as an analyst in a treeless US Forest Service office. When his wife dies in a freak accident, devastated, he makes his way to the remote woods of northeastern Pennsylvania’s Endless Mountains, intent on losing himself. But fate intervenes in the form of a fiercely determined young girl named Oriana. She, too, has lost someone—her father. And in the magical, willful world of her reckoning, Oriana believes that Harry is the key to finding her way back to him.

As Harry agrees to help the young girl, the unlikeliest of elements—a tree house, a Wolf, a small-town librarian and a book called The Grum’s Ledger—come together to create the biggest sensation ever to descend upon the Endless Mountains…a golden adventure that will fulfill Oriana’s wildest dreams and open the door to a new life for Harry.

I couldn't remember the title of one of my favorite books and realized I'd probably not entered it onto the blog.  So I queried GEMINI and this is what I got....YAY! It's the right book!

The book you are thinking of is "Harry's Trees" by Jon Cohen, published in 2018.

It fits your description perfectly and is a wonderful "slump-buster" because it blends the grit of a life-changing tragedy with a sense of wonder.

Why this is your book:

• The Lead: Harry Crane is a 34-year-old analyst for the US Forest Service (the "forestry job") who suffers a devastating personal loss.

• The Setting: He flees to the Endless Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania to live in the woods.

• The Treehouse: He ends up living in a luxurious, multi-story treehouse on the property of a woman named Amanda.

• The Daughter & Fairy Tales: Amanda’s young daughter, Oriana, is obsessed with a book of fairy tales called The Grum’s Ledger. She believes Harry is a magical being sent to help them.

• The Money: After receiving a large legal settlement, Harry begins anonymously giving away money to locals in the nearby town who are in need, often in creative or "magical" ways.

---

Why you’ll love it (based on your tastes):

Even though it has a "magical" undertone, it is firmly a contemporary novel with many of the procedural elements you enjoy. It deals with:

• Grit and Redemption: Similar to Robert Dugoni’s emotional depth.

• Small-Town Secrets: It has that "everyone knows your business" Pennsylvania atmosphere.

• The Forest: Much like Paul Doiron’s work, the Pennsylvania wilderness is a living, breathing character in the story.

It’s a deeply uplifting read, which might be exactly what you need to get your reading momentum back!

37. The Broken Girls by Simone St. James

listened on Libby
336 pgs.

2018
Adult Mystery 
Finished 4/2//2024
Goodreads rating: 4.07
My rating: 4.75
Setting: Two time periods:  1950 & 2014 Vermont

My comments: For some reason, it took me a long while to get into this book.  Maybe every time I started I was too tired to register what was going on because the first few vignettes were different people, different time periods.  And then, with some urging from a friend, I did get into it.  This is a wonderful, solid story with lots of surprises and a touch of magical realism.  A lot of mystery, a lot of sleuthing, and some very interesting characters made for a story that after that hard start I had a hard time putting down!

Goodreads synopsis:  Vermont, 1950. There's a place for the girls whom no one wants--the troublemakers, the illegitimate, the too smart for their own good. It's called Idlewild Hall. And in the small town where it's located, there are rumors that the boarding school is haunted. Four roommates bond over their whispered fears, their budding friendship blossoming--until one of them mysteriously disappears. . . .

Vermont, 2014. As much as she's tried, journalist Fiona Sheridan cannot stop revisiting the events surrounding her older sister's death. Twenty years ago, her body was found lying in the overgrown fields near the ruins of Idlewild Hall. And though her sister's boyfriend was tried and convicted of murder, Fiona can't shake the suspicion that something was never right about the case.

When Fiona discovers that Idlewild Hall is being restored by an anonymous benefactor, she decides to write a story about it. But a shocking discovery during the renovations will link the loss of her sister to secrets that were meant to stay hidden in the past--and a voice that won't be silenced. . . .

6. The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths

#10 Ruth Galloway

listened on Audible

2018
368 pgs.
Adult Forensic/Murder Mystery
Finished 1/17/2023
Goodreads rating: 4.04
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Italian mountainside AND Norfolk, England

My comments: This one was a little different ... set mostly in a picturesque mountain village in Italy where Ruth has been invited to help with an investigative gig/dig by an old "friend."  Kate is now six years old and accompanies her along with Shona and Shona's son.  The climax of the story is a bit horrifying and very unexpected.  So much of the story is actually about Ruth (and Nelson's) personal lives, so the climax is a bit unsettling.  The story also has a completely unnecessary epilogue - I'm definitely not into epilogues 90% of the time.  Wondering in what direction Ms. Griffiths is going with these.....

Goodreads synopsis:  Dr Ruth Galloway is flattered when she receives a lett2er from Italian archaeologist Dr Angelo Morelli, asking for her help. He's discovered a group of bones in a tiny hilltop village but doesn't know what to make of them. It's years since Ruth has had a holiday, and even a working holiday to Italy is very welcome!

So Ruth travels to Fontana Liri, accompanied by her daughter Kate and friend Shona. In the town she finds a medieval shrine and a dark secret involving the war years and the Resistance. To her amazement she also finds Harry Nelson, who is enduring a terrible holiday at a resort nearby. But there is no time to overcome their mutual shock - the ancient bones spark a modern murder, and Ruth must discover what secrets there are in Fontana Liri that someone would kill to protect.

9. Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren

listened on Libby, borrowed from library

2018
432 pgs.
Chick-Lit Romance
Finished 1/29/2022
Goodreads rating: 4.33
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary San Francisco, Berkeley, and Healdsburg, California

My comments: The setting was awesome, I knew everything they were talking about and could see it in my mind's eye.  Christina Lauren's storytelling gets better and better.  Not just the plot, but the way she weaves words together seems unusual for this sort of "chick-lit romance."  Bringing two time periods, 12 to 15 years apart, together, was done smoothly and deftly.  In the "then," two young people care intensely about each other, not pushing each other physically, but being able to talk about most everything without embarrassment.  And two 29-year olds in the "now," trying to make their way towards each other knowing that the caring is still as strong as it ever was.  This is a wonderful story, a true love story, as unbelievable as that might be!

Goodreads synopsis:  The story of the heart can never be unwritten.

Macy Sorensen is settling into an ambitious if emotionally tepid routine: work hard as a new pediatrics resident, plan her wedding to an older, financially secure man, keep her head down and heart tucked away.

But when she runs into Elliot Petropoulos—the first and only love of her life—the careful bubble she’s constructed begins to dissolve. Once upon a time, Elliot was Macy’s entire world—growing from her gangly bookish friend into the man who coaxed her heart open again after the loss of her mother...only to break it on the very night he declared his love for her.

Told in alternating timelines between Then and Now, teenage Elliot and Macy grow from friends to much more—spending weekends and lazy summers together in a house outside of San Francisco devouring books, sharing favorite words, and talking through their growing pains and triumphs. As adults, they have become strangers to one another until their chance reunion. Although their memories are obscured by the agony of what happened that night so many years ago, Elliot will come to understand the truth behind Macy’s decade-long silence, and will have to overcome the past and himself to revive her faith in the possibility of an all-consuming love.

113. How to Date Your Dragon by Molly Harper

listened on Audible

2018

200 estimated pgs. 6 hrs+ audible only)
Adult Fant/Romance
Finished 12/14/2021
Goodreads rating: 3.94
My rating: 2
Setting: supposedly contemporary Louisiana bayou town

My comments: Absolutely ridiculous story, why do I waste my time with such trite trash?  An anthropologist goes to Louisiana bayou town to discover how all the shape-shifters there get along with each other so well.  Of course, as soon as she arrives, murders begin to happen.  The story skips around a lot and develops weirdly.  I'm not a big fan of the southern accents that were used, either, though I'm sure they depicted what people who live there might sound like. Just not good.

Goodreads synopsis:  Anthropologist Jillian Ramsay's career has taken a turn south.

Concerned that technology is about to chase mythological creatures out into the open (how long can Sasquatch stay hidden from Google maps?), the League for Interspecies Cooperation is sending Jillian to Louisiana on a fact-finding mission. While the League hopes to hold on to secrecy for a little bit longer, they're preparing for the worst in terms of human reactions. They need a plan, so they look to Mystic Bayou, a tiny town hidden in the swamp where humans and supernatural residents have been living in harmony for generations. Mermaids and gator shifters swim in the bayou. Spirit bottles light the front porches after twilight. Dragons light the fires under crayfish pots.

Jillian's first assignment for the League could be her last. Mystic Bayou is wary of outsiders, and she has difficulty getting locals to talk to her. And she can't get the gruff town sheriff, Bael Boone, off of her back or out of her mind. Bael is the finest male specimen she's seen in a long time, even though he might not be human. Soon their flirtation is hotter than a dragon's breath, which Bael just might turn out to be.... 

76. Debris Line by Matthew FitzSimmons

#4 Gibson Vaughn

listened on KindUnlAUDIO

narrated by James Patrick Cronin

Unabridged audio (9:44)
2018
320 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished  7/15/21 (returning from Maine, in CT, in the car)
Goodreads rating: 4.22 - 3384 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting:  contemporary coast of Portugal

First line/s: "Joao Luna steered the Alexandria south and west into open waters."

My comments: Adventure and edge-of-your-seat kind of wondering wht will happen next....though a little slow in places.  Set entirely in Portugal.  You get to know Gibson Vaughn's three cohorts a bit better.  I'm getting to like Hendrix more and more, he has a weird sense of humor that's fun.  Jenn, I'm not so sure about.  She's left Sergio, the soccer player, because she knows their relationship won't last.  I really do think that Gibson has a crush on her, but I'm not sure that she reciprocates it even in the slightest.  There's at least one more story written about them at this time, so will definitely see what might happen there.

Goodreads synopsis:   The stakes are higher than ever as the Wall Street Journal bestselling series continues.
        Lying low on the sun-kissed coast of Portugal is a far cry from twenty-four-hour lockdown in a CIA black-site prison. But even in paradise, Gibson Vaughn is a long way from being home free. With the feds hot on his heels, he and his crew of fellow fugitives know they can’t hide in a sunny beach town forever. And before they go on the run again, their generous host—a wealthy drug smuggler—expects to be paid for his hospitality. And paid double.
His price? A nearly impossible operation that Gibson and his gang must pull off to retrieve a king’s ransom in hijacked narcotics. Even if they make it out alive, they’ll have to face the wrath of a ruthless Mexican cartel that plays dirty…and is used to winning. But when Gibson discovers there’s far more than drugs at stake, the heist becomes a daring mission of rescue and mercy—and righteous vengeance.

58. Turn the Paige by Roseanne Beck

#1 Love Hurts

listened on Chirp

narrated by Stephanie Dillard

Unabridged audio (6:58)
2018
284 pgs.
Adult RomCom
Finished 5/31/2021
Goodreads rating: 3.88 - 79 ratings
My rating: 1

First line/s:  "Hunched over the steering wheel, I peer out my windshield."

My comments: Holy stereotype, what a load of garbage!  Add in a dead grandmother who talks to her dead granddaughter all the time, a protagonist who supposedly adored said grandmother but shows no grief at all at her passing, a doctor who, when confronted with a medical emergency doesn't do any doctoring but takes you to the ER .... I could go on and on.  I think what really accentuated my dislike for the book was the narrator.  Right from the first phrase I knew I was going to have  trouble with her.  Talk about over acting!  Over stressing, over emphasizing, and placing too much emphasis on most consonants were just part of my problem with her  Yuck.

Goodreads synopsis:  Paige has everything she thinks she wants.

Nick might be the one thing she really needs.
Sometimes the best dreams are the ones you didn't know you had.
          Dr. Paige Ellis has worked hard to make her dreams come true. But somewhere along the way, she lost something important--herself.
         Luckily, her dead grandmother is still looking out for her.
         When Paige returns home to fulfill her Nana's last request, she comes face-to-face with an annoying blast from her past. Not only does Nick Collins know just which buttons to push to make Paige crazy, but he also might be the one thing Paige has convinced herself she doesn't need.
          Can Nana and Nick persuade an overachieving workaholic that love might be the best medicine after all?

3. Postcards from a Stranger by Imogen Clark

listened on Audible
narrated by Henrietta Meire
Unabridged audio (10:11)
2018
348 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished 1/12/2021
Goodreads rating: 4.07 - 16,272 ratings
My rating: 3.5
Setting: Contemporary Yorkshire, with flashbacks to 1960s and 1980s

First line/s: 1987 "The post hits the doormat with a thud."

What I posted on Goodreads:  Interesting, although predictable, multi-layered story, told in a number of voices, mostly in 2017, but with short forays to the 1960s and 1980s.

My comments: Interesting, although predictable, multi-layered story, told in a number of voices, though the protagonist is far more prolific than the rest.  Cara, a 30ish single woman in Yorkshire, finds a box of postcards that makes her realize her mother never died when she was two as she's been told.  Now a caretaker for her grumpy father with end-stages of Alzheimers, she embarks on a quest to find answers about her mother.

Goodreads synopsis:  A secret lies buried at the heart of her family—but it can’t stay hidden forever.

          When Cara stumbles across a stash of old postcards in the attic, their contents make her question everything she thought she knew.

          The story she pieces together is confusing and unsettling, and appears to have been patched over with lies. But who can tell her the truth? With her father sinking into Alzheimer’s and her brother reluctant to help, it seems Cara will never find the answers to her questions. One thing is clear, though: someone knows more than they’re letting on.

          Torn between loyalty to her family and dread of what she might find, Cara digs into the early years of her parents’ troubled marriage, hunting down long-lost relatives who might help unravel the mystery. But the picture that begins to emerge is not at all the one she’d expected—because as she soon discovers, lies have a habit of multiplying . . .

114. The Fifth to Die by J. K. Barker

#2 MLK Murders
listened on Audible
narrated by Eduardo Ballerini and Graham Winton
Unabridged audio (15:07)
2018
416 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery/Police Procedural
Finished 8/6/2020
Goodreads rating:  432 - 5744 ratings
My rating:  5
Setting:  Contemporary Chicago, with forays to New Orleans and Sourth Carolina

First line/s:  "Darkness.  It swirled around him deep and thick, eating the light and leaving nothing behind but an inky void."

What I posted on GoodReads:  Flipping back and forth between many pov's, the interesting, though gritty, mystery continues.

My comments:  Talk about ending on a cliffhanger!  I'm so glad I have the next book, the final book, in the trilogy ready and waiting.   Flipping back and forth between three Chicago cops, different girls who have been abducted, an FBI agent, and the diary of Bishop, the story comes at you from all angles.  Anson Bishop, an incredibly smart serial murderer - and a particularly gruesome one at that - is still at it, this time having an accomplice.

Goodreads synopsis:  In the thrilling sequel to The Fourth Monkey, a new serial killer stalks the streets of Chicago, while Detective Porter delves deeper into the dark past of the Four Monkey Killer.
          Detective Porter and the team have been pulled from the hunt for Anson Bishop, the Four Monkey Killer, by the feds. When the body of a young girl is found beneath the frozen waters of Jackson Park Lagoon, she is quickly identified as Ella Reynolds, missing three weeks. But how did she get there? The lagoon froze months earlier. More baffling? She’s found wearing the clothes of another girl, missing less than two days. While the detectives of Chicago Metro try to make sense of the quickly developing case, Porter secretly continues his pursuit of 4MK, knowing the best way to find Bishop is to track down his mother. When the captain finds out about Porter’s activities, he’s suspended, leaving his partners Clair and Nash to continue the search for the new killer alone.
          Obsessed with catching Bishop, Porter follows a single grainy photograph from Chicago to the streets of New Orleans and stumbles into a world darker than he could have possibly imagined, where he quickly realizes that the only place more frightening than the mind of a serial killer is the mind of the mother from which he came.

104. Winter in Paradise by Elin Hildebrand

listened on Audible

narrated by Erin Bennett
Unabridged audio (
2018
320 pgs.
Genre/Level
Finished 7/8/2020
Goodreads rating: 2.5
My rating: 2.5
Setting: contemporary St. John Virgin Islands

First line/s: 

What I posted on Goodreads:  

My comments: I've always resisted reading this author's work, I just didn't think she would be my cup of tea.  I discovered that I was right and she wasn't (my cuppa).  This story is about two families, set in St. John Virgin Islands.  I loved the setting, and in a little bit of researching discovered that many of the restaurants s mentioned, and most of the attractions and places, were real, which was pretty cool.  You have to be really rich to go there even to visit, which means I never will be able to, but I sure would like to.  There weren't many characters that I liked.  The two grown sons were idiots.  The forgiving that the thwarted wife had was totally unbelievable to me, when I replaced her dead, philandering husband with my own dead, not-philandering husband.  If I had ever discovered what she did there's no way I would ever in a million years feel the way that she did, so her whole persona was really hard for me to take.  The mystery of what the dead husband, Russ, did for a living - and hinted at at the end, in my opinion - was horribly handled.  I kept rolling my eyes;  Nope not much of this book did it for me at all.

Goodreads synopsis:  

96. Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

listened to audio - borrowed from Bosler
narrated by Caroline Lee
Unabridged audio (16:18)
2018 Flatiron Books
453 pgs.
Adult Mystery/Thriller
Finished 6/15/20
Goodreads rating:  3.50 - 325,076  ratings
My rating: 4.5
Setting: contemporary - outside Sydney, Australia

What I posted on GoodReads:  4.5  Excellent character development, a little long, great ending.

First line/s: " 'I'm fine,' said the woman.  'There's nothing wrong with me.'"

My comments: A wonderful, slow-burn character study of eleven individuals that are thrown together during one crazy, impactful week.  You get a little bit of a lot of things - drug abuse and dependency, teenage suicide, battling self-esteem issues, and even becoming a multi millionaire overnight, with all the issues that might accompany that.  I very much enjoyed the character development and growing relationships.  It got a little slow at about the 3/4 mark, but the best part for me was the way Moriarty decided to end the book.  The last 5% just tickled me!

Goodreads synopsis:  Could ten days at a health resort really change you forever?
          These nine perfect strangers are about to find out...
          Nine people gather at a remote health resort. Some are here to lose weight, some are here to get a reboot on life, some are here for reasons they can’t even admit to themselves. Amidst all of the luxury and pampering, the mindfulness and meditation, they know these ten days might involve some real work. But none of them could imagine just how challenging the next ten days are going to be.
          Frances Welty, the formerly best-selling romantic novelist, arrives at Tranquillum House nursing a bad back, a broken heart, and an exquisitely painful paper cut. She’s immediately intrigued by her fellow guests. Most of them don’t look to be in need of a health resort at all. But the person that intrigues her most is the strange and charismatic owner/director of Tranquillum House. Could this person really have the answers Frances didn’t even know she was seeking? Should Frances put aside her doubts and immerse herself in everything Tranquillum House has to offer—or should she run while she still can?
          It’s not long before every guest at Tranquillum House is asking exactly the same question.
          Combining all of the hallmarks that have made Liane Moriarty's writing a go-to for anyone looking for wickedly smart, page-turning fiction that will make you laugh and gasp, Nine Perfect Strangers once again shows why she is a master of her craft.

91. Veronica's Dragon by Ruby Dixon

#2 Icehome
listened to audio on AudEsc
narrated by Sean Crisden & Felicity Monroe
Unabridged audio (8:01)
2018
280 pgs.
Adult steamy sci-fi
Finished 6/6/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.22 - 3569 ratings
My rating: blah!

First line/s: "When I awaken a variety of smells assaults my senses."

My comments: Okay, it's seriously time to stop reading these.  They're becoming repetitious...incredibly repetitious ... slow and way too much of the steamy stuff!  I love the basic outline of the si-fi story, but not much else.

Goodreads synopsis:  Resonance.
          It’s a given on the ice planet, forced upon you by the parasitic symbiont called the ‘khui’. With resonance, a guy and a girl are paired up because they’ll make great babies. It’s a survival mechanism necessary for this sparsely-populated world we’re stranded on… and romantic, in a weird, alien way.
          Everyone expects resonance to happen when twenty newcomers are dropped onto the frosty world. I doubt anyone expects the gorgeous, golden god named Ashtar to resonate to someone like me, though. He’s fierce. Flirty. Powerful. Disgustingly handsome.
          I’m… not any of those things. I’m bland. Boring. Clumsy.
          But resonance seems to think we’d be great together. And Ashtar does, too…___
          The Icehome series features all of the adventure, humor and community you’ve come to expect in the Ice Planet Barbarians series, but it stands on its own. You do not need to read the other series (or be caught up) in order to read VERONICA’S DRAGON. I do recommend reading LAUREN’S BARBARIAN to get the full experience. Enjoy!

76. Senator's Pet by Avery Rae

#1 Korystus Aliens
listened on Audible Escape
narrated by Meghan Kelly
Unabridged audio (4:11)
2018
206 pg.s
Adult SciFi Steamy
Finished 5/16/2020
Goodreads rating:  3.81 - 134 ratings
My rating:  1

First line/s:  "It'd been nearly a year since we crash-landed on Korystus, a planet populated by beautiful, cruel beings known as Korystis."

My comments:  A whole lot of repetitious nonsense with too many unanswered questions.  HORRIBLE reader, the light, airy, bimbo kind of voice that I hate.

Goodreads synopsis:  Senator Rylos bought me. But he'll never make me his.      
          I'll admit those are strong words for a woman who trembles at his touch. But I can't help it. His kind are as beautiful as they are cruel.
          We crashed onto his planet ten years after we fled Earth. Instead of helping us, they imprisoned us, then sold us off to the highest bidder.
          I was the last human sold. Too much bad behavior. Yet Rylos dared to buy me and call me his pet.
          He might be genetically engineered perfection on the outside, but I won't let him have me, no matter how hard it is to resist him. Because my goal is to escape.
          I keep telling myself it'll be easy. Why does it feel like I'm lying?

59. Lost Girls: The Maine Murders by Jon Mills

Ben Forrester series, but I don't see any more yet
Listened on Audible
narrated by Peter Kenyon
Unabridged audio (6:18)
2018
391 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished 4/5/2020
Goodreads rating:  4.23 - 1133 ratings
My rating: 3
Setting:  Contemporary Mount Desert Island, Maine

First line/s:  "For the last two years, Ben Forrester had lived in a small beach house on Mt. Desert Island."

My comments:  I was delighted to begin this murder mystery knowing that it took place in Maine, but was more-than-pleasantly surprised when I discovered it was set on my own Mount Desert Island.  However, the author did some really weird things with some of the facts and locations.  He changed the name of Bar Harbor to Eden Falls, keeping Mount Desert, Southwest Harbor, and Tremont the other three towns, correctly.  Unfortunately, the narrator was never told how to correctly say Tremont.  Oh well, he did nail Bangor, thankfully, which is a huge pet peeve of mine though it shouldn't be.  But Mr. Mills added and changed other things that disconcerted me.  He kept saying Acadia Park (leaving out the National, which isn't done) and added Acadia National Forest, WTF?  He put Blackwoods Campground in Bar Harbor/Eden Falls jurisdiction, when it's in Otter Creek (never mentioned) which is part of the town of Mount Desert and in their jurisdiction.  He gave huge, crazy numbers to the amounts of park rangers at Acadia.  Had cabins and log homes dotted here and there throughout the "forest," which, because it's largely in Acadia National Park is definitely not allowed and therefore nonexistent.  All of this bothered me quite a bit     why change some insignificant details when sticking to the truth would probably garner more positive reception?  It definitely put me off.  The story was okay, to be sure.  I usually, as a rule, dislike stories when the protagonist's family are kidnapped, and this was one of those.  It was also incredibly grizzly - and I can usually take some grizzly, but, spoiler alert!!! I think I've got to draw a line with taxidermy being done on human bodies.  I'll give this one a three, although I will certainly try out any others if Mr. Mills decides to continue this as a series.

Goodreads synopsis:  A serial killer is terrorizing a coastal town…
          When renowned FBI agent Benjamin Forrester suffers a devastating loss while trying to catch an elusive serial killer, he quits the bureau. Years later, after a similar series of gruesome murders trigger an investigation in the coastal town of Eden Falls, Maine, Ben is called upon to assist the rookie police detective, Dakota Woods.
          He soon learns he's being lured into a deadly game of cat and mouse where the only way to stop the murders is to confront his past and face his worst fear.

50. Cathian by Laurann Dohner

Vorge Crew Series
listened to Audio on Audible Escape
narrated by Callie Dalton
Unabridged audio (3:19)
2018 self published
138 pg. novella
SciFi Romance
Finished 3/9/2020
Goodreads rating:  3.96 - 2288 ratings
My rating: um....an't really rate

First line/s:  "Nara gripped the cage bars and glared at Derrick."

My comments:  Intergalactic match-ups, always fun.  Outwardly, the people of Cathian's race's only differ is in size, they're quite a bit larger.  It's their reproductive systems that are different - males go into heat every three years and this is the only time they can reproduce.  And, of course, they MUST have a female during that time.  That's what this book is about, how Cathian obtains Nara and what happens thereafter.  Where do people come up with these ideas/  Triple X-rated.

Goodreads synopsis:  *** Notice - This book was previously published as a short story called ‘Captain of Nara’s Heart’ in Something Wicked This Way Comes, Volume 1
. It has been updated and expanded into novella length.
          When Nara Barns and her tiny crew find themselves with a choice between jail or the sex-slave auction block, it’s an easy choice. Especially when they plan to escape their buyers as soon as possible, anyway. Even better, Nara’s buyer wants her for just six days, long enough to get him through his heat until women from his planet can come to his aid.
          Six days and then freedom? Sign her up.
          However, Nara’s completely unprepared for the impact Captain Cathian Vellar has on her body. To survive his heat, the Tryleskian must feed—and Nara is his favorite meal. Her body can barely withstand the rapture. Soon, her heart is just as engaged. But enduring the pinnacle of Cathian’s heat he could kill Nara, and he refuses to risk her life. 

41. Rabid by Paul Doiron

#8.5 Mike Bowditch
listened using Audible
narrated by Henry Leyva
Unabridged audio (1:16)
2018 Minotaur Books
50 pgs.
Adult HF
Finished 3/1/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.08 - 282 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting: now with story within story taking place in the 1908s.

First line/s: "It was one of those warm June evenings when you can feel the earth pivoting from spring to summer."

My comments: The short novellas by Paul Doiron in the Mike Bowditch series seem to be stories from the past that Charlie Stevens tells.  This one is from the 80s and is his and his wife, Aura's, retelling of confrontations with a Vietnam vet and his Vietnamese wife.  It was interesting, and a bit thought-provoking.

Goodreads synopsis:  In this original short story in the Mike Bowditch mystery series, Mike is drawn into the story of a gruesome case from his mentor Charley Steven’s past.
          Maine Game Warden Mike Bowditch accompanies his old friend and mentor, retired bush pilot Charley Stevens, as he pays a visit to a mysterious woman, the widow of a Vietnam vet, living in isolation in the Maine wilderness. Many years earlier, she had called Charley, then a young game warden himself, for help. She claimed that her badly bleeding husband had been attacked by a rabid bat. But in the succeeding days, despite her husband's increasingly erratic and aggressive behavior, his wife resisted Charley's attempts to help, arousing his suspicions that more was going on than met the eye. Was the husband the victim of rabies, or was he suffering from post traumatic stress disorder? The situation finally erupted into horrific violence, leaving everyone involved deeply scarred. In the devastating finale to RABID, Charley reveals to Mike how he uncovered the awful truth about what actually happened in their home so many years before.

Picture Book - The Universe is a Tree by Laura Filippucci

Illustrated by the author

2018, Creative Editions

HC $ 18.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.90 - 10 ratings

My rating:  5
Endpapers:  a beautifully drawn tree in greens on white, with two poems/quotes:  one fby Charles Darwin, the other from Katha Upanishad.

My comments:   Oh my gosh, I love this book.  I love trees.  I love short, clear poetry and meaningful quotes.  So both of those are covered really well...and the illustrations are glorious!  The short explanation about each of the trees is interesting and readable, so that you can read the entire book without skimming.  Hoorah!  I wish I could have the opportunity to see them all.  I think I'll start a buck list based on these trees...

Redwood (Trees are Creators)
Kauri (Trees are Ancestors)
Oak (Trees are Temples)
Cedar of Lebanon (Trees are Homes of the Gods)
Yew (Trees are Gates to the Beyond)
Kapok (Trees are Channels to Other Worlds)
Baobab (Trees are Givers)
Sweet Chestnut (Trees are Protection)
Olive (Trees are Bearers of Peace)
Ginkgo (Trees are Healers)
Banyan/Bodhi (Trees are Founts of Wisdom)
Bristlecone Pine (Trees are Keepers of Secrets)

"To be like these, straight, true and fine,
to make our world like theirs, a shrine;
Sink down, Oh, traveler, on your knees,
God stands before you in these trees.
          -Joseph B. Strauss, from "The Redwoods"
NOTE:  This is MY kind of god!

Goodreads: Trees are teachers, healers, protectors, creators. They keep secrets. They bring peace. This rich anthology of stories, proverbs, and poems about trees from around the world reveals that a tree's roots not only go down deep into the earth, but its branches also reach up and out into the universe, connecting us all, across time and space. May we peer through the forests of our imaginations to see the beauty and experience the awe that still arches over our world.

Picture Book: Crow Not Crow by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple

Illustrated by Elizabeth Dulemba

2018 The Cornell Lab Publishing Group

HC $16.95

36 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 3.93 - 120 ratings

My rating:  5/Excellent
Endpapers:Deb Grocery Bag Brown

1^st line/s:  "The first day Dad took me out birding, the sky was the color of Mom's old pearl ring.  The trees were draped with birds.  It was very noisy."

My comments: This book was written for me....or a kid just like me.  All birds look the same to me.  But this ingenious way to teach beginning birders how and what to look for when they're birdwatching is a super-great idea.  The book ends with a few of the birds described in the book, and a few other common North American birds. Lovely illustrations.

Goodreads: New York Times bestselling children's author, Jane Yolen, and her son, Adam Stemple, have teamed up to write this gentle tale of a father introducing his daughter to the joys of bird watching using the "Crow, not Crow" method for distinguishing birds. Elizabeth Dulemba's delightfully warm illustrations bring the story to life..